peculiar class of structures, all radically alike, and all known, in certain districts, as "Picts' houses." The term "Picts' house" is unknown in the Hebrides, says one writer. "In the Hebrides tradition is entirely silent concerning the Picts ... there the Fenian heroes are the builders of the duns."[49] Yet the self-same class of building is elsewhere assigned to the Picts. To these structures I shall presently refer more particularly; but it is enough to note in passing that, just as Oisin, King of the Fians, is translated into Ossian, King of the Picts, so the dwellings ascribed to the Fians in one locality, are in another said to have been made and inhabited by the Picts.

Fians, then, are associated or identified with Fairies, and also with Picts. To complete my equilateral triangle, the Picts ought also to be regarded as Fairies, or as akin to them.

This undoubtedly is a popular belief. The earliest alleged reference of this kind is placed by one writer in the middle of the fifteenth century, before the Orkney Islands had passed from the crown of Denmark to the crown of Scotland. A manuscript of the then Bishop of Orkney, dated Kirkwall 1443, states that when Harald Haarfagr conquered the Orkneys in the ninth century, the inhabitants were the two "nations" of the Papæ and the Peti, both of whom were exterminated. By the former name is understood the Irish missionaries: the Peti were certainly the Picts, or Pehts.[50] Now, of these Picts of Orkney it is said, that they "were only a little exceeding pigmies in stature, and worked wonderfully in the construction of their cities, evening and morning, but in mid-day, being quite destitute of strength, they hid themselves through fear in little houses under ground."[51]

The exact date of this statement is at present doubtful, but it is quite in accordance with the widespread ideas held throughout Scotland and Northumberland with regard to the Picts: that they were great as builders, but were of very low stature, and closely akin to Fairies.[52] Moreover, they are famous for doing their work during the night. Whatever be the explanation of the above curious statement that at mid-day they lost their strength and withdrew to their underground houses, it is at any rate interesting to compare with it the remark made by the traveller Pennant as he was passing along Glenorchy in 1772. This is the entry in his journal:—"See frequently on the road-sides small verdant hillocks, styled by the common people shi an (sithean), or the Fairy-haunt, because here, say they, the fairies, who love not the glare of day, make their retreat after the celebration of their nocturnal revels."[53] Now, as the "Picts' houses" are, to outward appearance, "small verdant hillocks," the parallel is very exact. With these two references compare also the mention, in a quaint old gazetteer printed at Cambridge in 1693,[54] of the tribe of the "Germara," defined as "a people of the Celtæ, who in the day-time cannot see." Although the author usually gives the sources of his information, in this instance he gives none. But the statement agrees perfectly with the belief found everywhere throughout Northern Europe that "the dwarfs could not bear daylight, and during the day hid in their holes."[55] It really seems impossible to avoid the inference that all this was perfectly true. When Leif went down into the underground house in Ireland, he could not see at first, though at length he saw in the obscurity the glimmer of his opponent's sword. Consequently, the denizens and builders of these subterranean retreats must either have had something very like "cat's eyes," or else they must in general have had numerous lamps burning. This will be understood by an examination of one or two of the accompanying diagrams. It seems to me beyond question that a people living this underground life must have differed very distinctly from ourselves in the matter of vision; and to them the brightness of noonday must have been blinding. This physical fact—if it be a fact—would explain much that is otherwise strange and incredible in the traditions relating to the Picts—or Pechts, as they were formerly called in Scotland. However, it is sufficient for my present purpose to note that this peculiarity associates, and indeed identifies, the Picts with the dwarfs or fairies of tradition.

Having thus shown that Fians, Fairies, and Picts are so closely associated as to be, in some aspects, almost indistinguishable from one another, I shall now refer to the structures which are popularly believed to have been their dwellings. Some of these are wholly underground, others partly so, and others quite above ground. In many other ways, also, they vary. But all of them are unquestionably links in one special style of structure; of which the most marked feature, or at any rate that which is common to all, is the use of what is called the "cyclopean" arch. This is formed by the overlapping of the stones in the wall until they almost meet at the dome or apex of the building, when a heavy "keystone" completes this rude arch. The principle of the arch proper was obviously quite unknown to the originators of such structures.

Of the various Hebridean specimens of these buildings, very interesting and complete descriptions have been given by the late Captain Thomas, R.N.,[56] and Sir Arthur Mitchell,[57] who visited some of them together in 1866. Referring to the most modern examples of this kind of structure, the latter writer says:—"They are commonly spoken of as beehive houses, but their Gaelic name is bo'h or bothan. They are now only used as temporary residences or shealings by those who herd the cattle at their summer pasturage; but at a time not very remote they are believed to have been the permanent dwellings of the people." And he thus describes his first sight of the beehive houses:—